Cleaning woman gets probation for stealing gold

MEDIA COURTHOUSE — An Upper Chichester cleaning woman was sentenced to five years of probation Thursday after pleading guilty to stealing more than $10,000 worth of gold from a client of her former employer.

Under the plea worked out by Assistant District Attorney Erica Parham and defense counsel Arik Ben Ari, Johnson will repay $12,700 to the victim in installments of $250 per month, forfeit the $316 found on her person at the time of her arrest, which will also go to victim, and undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation and comply with all recommendations. She was expected to make an initial $500 payment on Friday.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, Johnson worked for “A Step Above Cleaning Service” in Delaware, Chester, Bucks and Montgomery counties.

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Johnson lifted 11 pieces of high-end gold jewelry from a 65-year-old resident of Martin’s Run in Marple while cleaning an upstairs bedroom, according to the affidavit. After noticing the jewelry was missing, the victim contacted police, who in turn got in touch with the cleaning service.

The victim said the same two women had cleaned her house on several occasions over the prior two months. The victim also gave police a list of the missing items with descriptions.

The service provided police with the names of the two women working for that client, and investigators were able to track down Johnson, who had been selling high-end jewelry in area pawn shops in recent months.

The cleaning service said they fired Johnson immediately after being contacted by police, noting a pre-employment screening showed she had no prior arrests.

The victim told Judge John Capuzzi on Thursday that only a couple of the missing pieces had been recovered. Some of them were irreplaceable heirlooms.

“I have never had this happen to me before,” she said. “I allowed this woman into my home. She stole from me. She stole items form me that took years to get. Some of these items were left to me by mother-in-law — they’re irreplaceable.”

But more than the missing items, it was the sense of violation that stung, she said. The woman said she is no longer able to trust people the way she used to and had hoped for Johnson to serve some jail time.

“I believe she is sorry she got caught, but I don’t believe she is sorry that she did it,” the woman said.

Ben Ari said his client, a mother of three, was remorseful. She had no prior encounters with the law and that her theft was the result of a substance abuse problem, he added.

Judge Capuzzi said he wasn’t sure if Johnson had the “intestinal fortitude” to make it through a rehabilitation program on the street, but Johnson assured him she would do whatever it took to stay with her children.

“They’re first priority,” she said.

Johnson is also scheduled for a Mar. 11 hearing in Chester County Common Pleas Court on two additional theft cases involving approximately $21,000 worth of jewelry stolen from an Easttown home.